The Book of Elegance in the Science of Agriculture

Description

The author of this work, Abd al-Gani ibn Isma’il al-Nabulusi (1641–1731), is considered one of the most influential and prolific Syrian writers of his time. He was affiliated with the Sufi orders of the Naqšbandiyya and the Qādirīyya and produced an impressive number of works in the fields of mysticism, theology, and poetry. He traveled extensively in the Islamic world and recorded his adventures in narratives that touch upon his private mystical experiences and the intellectual milieu of the 18th-century Islamic centers. This manuscript contains a copy of al-Nabulusi's treatise on agriculture, which in turn is an abridged version of the Jāmi‘ farā’id al-malāha fī jawāmi‘ fawā’id al-filāhah (The collection of the duties of elegance in the various aspects of the interests of agriculture) by the Syrian author Radī al-Dīn al-Gazzī al‑‘Amirī (died 1529). The ten chapters of the treatise, the titles of which are rubricated in this manuscript, deal with the different kinds of soils, their irrigation, the planting of trees and the care required to keep them healthy, techniques of grafting, and other useful advice for growing plants and trees and ensuring their productivity.